We had a wonderful time at the Northwest Pastel Society's Exhibition opening last Friday evening. With a large group in attendance, there was great food, conversation and new friends made.

The art was amazing. We have such talented pastel artists here in the Northwest and I was honored to participate.

Kudos to the show organizers - they did a beautiful job!

Please join me for the opening reception of the Northwest Pastel Society 2013 Member Exhibition on November 21st from 5pm to 8pm. I am honored to have two of my original paintings included in this exhibition which will run November 21 through December 28, 2013. Check out my blog postings "Summer Blooms Inspiration" and "Creating Peonies" to see the how the two paintings evolved.

The exhibit will be held at the Schack Art Center in Everett, WA which opened in 2011 as the new home of the 38 years old Arts Council of Snohomish County. Inside the Schack Art Center, you will find exhibits with diverse artwork from locally and internationally known professional artists, a wonderful gift shop and a state of the art glassblowing studio.

Established in 1988, the Northwest Pastel Society has grown from a small nucleus of Seattle area artists interested in promoting pastel as a fine art medium to a membership drawn from throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. It is wonderful to have my work exhibited with these talented artists! I hope to see you there!

I love to garden. It is like painting but you get to play in the dirt. I never know what is going to come up from year to year (I am a very random gardener!) just like I never know where my paintings will lead me.

I sketched this scene in late summer when the hydrangeas were the stars of my garden. I loved how they framed the fountain and climbed up through the tree limbs. The late afternoon sun lit up the maple tree while the rest of the garden was in cool shadow - sort of a spotlight on mystery.

I did a quick sketch  to create a composition I liked, laid in some darker values with a pastel pencil and fixed the drawing so that adding the watercolor underpainting would not make the drawing run down the page. Then I went a little crazy with the watercolor, letting the colors drip and run together to see what would happen (just like the way I garden!).

Allowing the underpainting to lead me to the pastel colors needed, I started filling in general areas, working on all parts of the painting. With my butterfly personality (oh no, another garden metaphor!) moving around the painting keeps me from getting bored or too focused in one spot.

The best part is filling in the detail and watching the painting emerge. The hardest part is knowing when to stop!

Several years ago I planted peonies around the fountain in my garden. When they were in riotous bloom for the first time, I took a photo to remind me how amazing the colors were. How could I capture that? How could I make it feel like you wanted to crawl into the bloom, like a honeybee?

Looking closely at the picture, I sketched in the flowers on sanded paper. I often use sanded paper (yep, feels like sandpaper!) which grabs the pastel pigment and allows multiple layers of color to be added.

I then used soft pastels to create an underpainting, which helps set the tone of the painting and establishes the basic values (light and dark) that give it a sense of depth.

Then the fun part - playing with each petal, how to make the colors jump off the page, how to make the negative space (the dark behind the flower) become an element in its own right - which involved music and (I admit) some dancing in my studio. I hope you enjoy the results!